Something always strikes me when I’m flying. Whenever I fly I’m inevitably sitting next to or near someone that feels that flying is “old hat”. Typically these people are reading the newspaper, sleeping, or just generally not interested in their surroundings.

I, on the other hand, am still astounded that it was only about 104 years ago that two brothers decided to see if they could use lift to allow them to soar through the air if only for a few feet.

My flight from Austin, Texas to Newark, New Jersey spans some 1,700 miles. I’ll be traveling at around 500-600 miles per hour about 35,000 feet above the surface of our planet. How can that possibly get old? How can someone not still be in awe of the fact that in so short a time – most of this country’s population can afford to fly from one side of our continent to the next?

Sometimes when I’m up here, I think about what is under my feet (besides the dirty laundry of my fellow passengers). Some kids in Houston playing basketball before it gets dark. Someone who is stopped at a red light, who notices a plane going overhead, and wondering where that plane might be going. Perhaps I could Twitter that person’s cellphone to let them know that we’re on our way to Newark!

Perhaps I too will one day lose my enthusiasm for the act of flying… but I don’t think it will be anytime soon. So the next time you take a flight, put down the sports section – and stare at nature’s beauty.